Ira Glass on Storytelling

Thank you, Ernie Easter, for the lead on this series.

This American Life

Part #2

Part #3

Part #4

Maine Mom Blogs

List of Bloggers

Acceptable Use Policy for teaching with laptops

by Mike Muir

Recently there's been an interesting discussion on the ACTEM listserv (technology using educators) about what the consequences should be for students who violate the school's AUP.

Thinking about the early years of MLTI where we found that schools that had teachers using the laptops in engaging ways with students had lower breakage & theft rates, I got thinking about acceptable use policies for teachers and posted this:

I wish, too, that we had an Acceptable Use Policy for Educators - not for how they use it personally, but how they use it with their students.

I wish that AUP would focus on things like teachers promising that they would use the laptops to

• do projects
• promote curiosity and make content interesting
• build constructive conversations and debate
• open the world to students, taking them where they've never been before
• bring experts into the classroom, regardless of where they are geographically
• improving writing by finding what kids would love to write about
• make complex ideas concrete and understandable
• teach responsibility by giving students responsibility and finding out their questions & concerns about their world & work

And I wish that AUP would prohibit (or at least severely limit)

• not using the laptops
• locked down machines
• strong filtering
• electronic worksheets
• simply looking up facts on the Internet (or worse - calling that a WebQuest)
• using laptops as a textbook
• drills for learning software programs

And I wish that AUP generated as much conversation about consequences of violating the AUP as the one for kids does.

So, what do you think should be in that AUP? (or it might be interesting to see what we believe the consequences for violating that AUP should be!)

What Do We Really Need?

Living Simply

Consumerism

Pie in the Face: Shaving Cream or Whip Cream?

Featuring Theodore Sizer

"Respect for students starts with respect for teachers, for them as individuals, for their work, and for their workplace." ~ Ted Sizer

"The best we educational planners can do is to create the conditions for teachers and students to flourish and get out of their way." ~ Ted Sizer

The Educational Theory of Theodore Sizer

Habits of Mind

Coalition for Essential Schools

Wikipedia; Coalition for Essential Schools

Searching for Photos

Photos at LIM Resources

"Introduction to Self-Education"

“Self-education is, I firmly believe, the only kind of education there is.” - Isaac Asimov

Using PBworks for Adult Education Reading Class

Ramsey Ludlow has created a site using PBworks that allows an online learning environment for her adult learners. Again, it demonstrates the simplicity, utility, and ease-of-use of wikis.

MVMS Advisor/Advisee Wiki

I was thrilled to catch a post from Kim Hilton in the Mountain Valley Middle School First Class conference this morning. Being a proponent of the simplicity and utility of wikis, I was delighted that Kim had just set one up, called MVMSAdvisor, for resources in their advisor/advisee program.

Many schools seem to have a variation of this program, but all too often some busy teachers, with many irons in the fire, have difficulty in finding resources and activities to make the best use of this time. Enter Kim's new wiki!

For additional resources, see Process Skills at LIM Resources.

Want to have your own wiki? See Using a Wiki to Collect Internet Resources.

Teachers Games For Change: Part 1

by Olga LaPlante

http://tinyurl.com/g4change2009

First Session

Add comments to the blog

• Opening Questions: Go to this blog and offer your responses.
  


1. What do students need to know about a community's energy needs?
   


2. If students were given control of energy policy, what might the outcome look like?
   


3. Briefly share one example of an activity you provide for students in which the student can quickly and easily try different scenarios to see results.
4. Check out students' responses on this blog.
   

Game: Energyville

http://www.willyoujoinus.com/energyville/

Objective of the game:

You will create a one paragraph energy proposal that highlights major choices in energy policy based on your experience in the simulation (post it here).

Questions to explore the game:

IMPORTANT: RECORD YOUR CHOICES AT EACH STEP!!! You will need that record to make conclusions about effectiveness of your choices.

You may wish to use a record sheet like this one for data collection.

After your first attempt, you may wish to try one of these challenges:

1. start through level one with no renewable energies. How long and what challenges are faced in introducing renewable energies into your city? Can it get totally renewable over time?
   


2. assume only green through level one, is it possible to replace the greens with conventional sources and have the city successful? Does green mean expensive?
   


3. ***Additional reading and discussion***:
   

http://www.izzit.org/events/ce_article.php?ID=919

Extension ideas back in the classroom/community:

1. CFL video
2. Ideas and FAQ:

1. For this particular activity, it's important to have an engaging conversation with students. What are some of the things that seem unrealistic in this simulation? What are the assumptions that have been made and can we change them? What are the things that might be biased? What do we need to know to really affect energy policies and landscape?
   
2. The hypothetical city in the simulation lacks lots of background information. To take this project to a more tangible level with real data on alternative energy sources to model events in a particular location, try this additional information. Energy Unit [requires MyWorld GIS, available on MLTI laptops; can be purchased or downloaded as trial for 45 days, which may be sufficient for one project without a license.]
   

Link to Part 2

Want to take a course? Check it out!
The Game is On, Course Facilitator Olga LaPlante


Intro Video: If books came after games

Presenters:

Ed Latham

ohgeer@gmail.com

Olga LaPlante

olga.laplante@gmail.com

PLC North: Session 2: Google Tools & Mac Apps

Agenda

DId You Know 4.0

(Fall, 2009) (Double-click image to see wide-screen version at YouTube)

The Third Annual MEDIA Convergence Forum (October 20-21, 2009)

Teachers Using WordPress at MSAD #44

Melissa Prescott, an art teacher at Telstar Middle School, has created the following blogs using WordPress:

• How to Use Wordpress
• TMS Art
• Got Farms

Tera Ingraham, Telstar elementary art teacher, has created the following WordPress blog:

• SAD44 Art Room

Tera and Melissa gave our Telstar 3 cohort an overview of the possibilities of using WordPress in the classroom this evening. A delightful presentation . . . thanks! :)

• More on WordPress
• Get Your Own WordPress Account in Seconds

Telstar3: Session 2: Blogs, Wikis & Mac Apps

October 19, 2009, 3:30 - 7:30, Crescent Park School, SAD#44

Agenda

Foreign Language and Web 2.0 MaineEd09

by Sarah Sutter

Wiki of resources from Deb Taylor's presentation at Maine Ed 09 on using Web 2.0 tools in a Foreign Language classroom, specifically in a 1:1 laptop class at the high school level (although resources can be adapted to wider use).

One to One in Science MaineEd09

by Sarah Sutter

Wiki of resources and links for the 1:1 in High School Science by Susan Perkins. Links provided to tools, examples related to specific science content, and more.

Family History in American History Maine Ed 09

by Sarah Sutter

Wiki of resources for the presentation Family History in American History by Mary Ellen Bell and Sarah Sutter at Maine Ed 09. Links to tools and ideas for creating oral history projects, a great interactive immigration map, ideas for using Google Maps collaboratively and more. The slide show is there, as is a link to the recorded presentation from the Spring MLTI Online Conference last May.

Digital Photos : Now What? MaineEd09

Sarah Sutter's wiki of resources from her presentation at Maine Ed 09 on what to do with digital photos after you take them. Ideas for organization, storage, backing up, and basic editing concepts, as well as web 2.0 tools for posting student work to the web for exhibit, sharing and feedback.

What's New and Cool in Open Source

David Trask's Digital Handout

More About Web/School 2.0 and Accountability

Digital Handouts by John Brandt and Steve Sawczyn